From 1974 to 1981, the Zwaans company was the Dutch Mack importer. They put around 250 units of them on our roads. The F-series cabover, originally introduced in 1962, was the bestseller. Many were used in the heavy haulage business and for the overland trips to the Middle East. The Overdorp IJmuiden hauling company bought 23 Macks back then, more than anyone else.
In the summer of 1980, Overdorp invested in a brand new Mack F786ST tractor, which got license plate number 36-VB-15. A few years ago, it was brought back to its original, summer-of-1980 condition.
Almost all Overdorp F-series tractors had a double sleeper cab, with a raised roof section. Initially, coachbuilder Joost Lamboo converted the standard, flat factory roofs for our market. Later on, Mack offered their own version.
As can be seen in the video (from 3:25 to 3:30), the Mack has a twin stick transmission. The tractor is powered by a Maxidyne ENDT-676 turbodiesel, an inline-six with 11.1 liter displacement and a maximum power output of 285 hp. The dual-drive tandem is air suspended.
A Mack all the way: engine, transmission and axles. Hence, a gold-plated bulldog rides along!
Note the Mack’s clean, less-is-more looks. No shiny, additional bits ‘n pieces, no wild colors or graphics. Just a pure and honest workhorse. Terrific!
This video shows the full restoration job and the Overdorp transformation process. Later on, the semi-trailer also got a complete overhaul.
When everything was said and done, Tekno launched a wonderful 1:50 scale diecast model. The cab is tiltable, exposing a true Mini-Maxidyne.
The full package is also available, so with the correct Netam-Fruehauf wide spread tandem axle semi-trailer. Industrial heritage at its finest, both in 1:1 and 1:50 scale. Good job guys!
A comprehensive collection of Overdorp Macks can be found on the Overdorp Transport IJmuiden Nostalgie fb-site.
I know there’s a few truckers and ex-truckers here, and there’s a question I keep meaning to ask.
Many people who work in an industrial landscape, whether it’s mechanics or hard industry of some sort, seem pretty happy to see the back of the machinery they once had to operate or fix, and for sure, there were a few comments here a while back to the effect that the Screamin’ GM Jimmies so beloved of car/machine nuts are a bit less loved by those who actually had the job of driving the things for hours upon end for a living.
But in the wider truck field, it seems different. There seems to be a fairly substantial group of former drivers or mechanics who’ve restored old load-luggers like this Mack here.
My question for our former/current operators here is this: what do you think this is about? Is it perhaps like the relationship – and I don’t mean this rudely or jokily – of an elephant handler to his handler or somesuch?
I ask because most of us drove cars that we remember fondly, or not, but we’ve not had to depend on the things for existence, and certainly not had to depend upon what was a huge and smelly and none-too-comfortable beast.
Mr Holland, and like posters?
Let’s face it, mijnheer Boom, the full-time truck drivers of yore were often completely physically worn out when they were somewhere between 45 and 60 years old. Not only due to the cramped, loud “classic” kidney-shakers they drove, but also due to manually (un)loading the cargo. Hearing, back, joints…they all suffered.
My dad was one of them. Driving said kidney-shakers in the sixties and seventies, and putting 50 and even 80 kg bags on and off the flatbed when the truck was not rolling down the road. Truck-mounted forklifts? Never heard of.
It was in the seventies and early eighties when big trucks, especially in Europe, drastically improved, especially from a driver’s point of view. Much bigger cabs, more comfort (seats, cab and axle suspension, heating, ventilation, sound insulation, etc.) and much better ergonomics. Everything simply improved so much. The seventies was also peak long distance driving here, as I mentioned last week. It was exactly then when things turned for the better.
I love old trucks, can’t get enough of them. But to drive them? Daily, year in, year out? No thanks!!
Yes Johannes I quit truck driving and went fruit picking it was easier but now most trucks have improved some havent and people who buy such junk have problems getting drivers and bigger problems keeping them.
Same here Bryce. Better come up with first-rate new or at least recent material or you will have serious problems to find or keep good drivers. And many experienced drivers will retire in the not-too-distant future.
Apart from that, many cities don’t even allow older trucks (emission-standards related).
Nice post Johannes and kudos to Overdorp for restoring this gem to its former glory…
Another good presentation from you, Johannes! Thanks. We learn more and more about trucks on The Continent as well as American trucks that come to Europe thanks to you. Tom
Nice rig. A legend in the middle east transport business. Also very popular in Turkey an Iran back in the day
Richtig! They were also offered as truck chassis, see Dutch Rynart truck-trailer combination below, hauling two 20ft shipping containers, somewhere in the Middle East.
Also in Israel (many were assembled by Mack Ashdod over there)…
I agree that it seems more than likely with the big trucks the enthusiasts tend to be mechanics or small fleet owners who get there hands dirty. To me the thing that interests me is the complexity and the size of the stuff, that’s probably why I ended up in the industry. One ting was you actually fixed stuff, overhauled or rebuilt stuff. You could fix an alternator, overhaul a water pump or a fan clutch. Diagnostic’s was the real game, listen to what the truck is telling you, Pull the back section off the 13 speed trans and finding the cause of the noise is exactly what you figured it had to be. Finding fixes for issues that just seemed to odd to be happening. One was again an Eaton 13 speed trans. It was puking oil out the input shaft into the clutch housing. Service writer first thought was the input shaft seal must be bad, except the trans doesn’t use an input shaft seal. So why is this thing pushing oil out the front? Checked trans vent, seems clean, pull it to inspect, its clean. Oil looks like its the right type, has been changed recently. So I put my stethoscope to the side of the trans and we ran it thru the ranges, sure enough the rear seal on the splitter cylinder was leaking air, not bad enough to hear, but enough to aerate the oil and you have your culprit. Pull the back section off the trans, overhaul the air cylinders, reassemble and put it back on the road. The other thing that was so satisfying was pulling engines, doing clutch jobs and differential repairs. Pulling these big pieces was usually thought of as bull work. I’m not a big guy by any means so I had to use finesse to get this stuff done, proper alignment, attention to detail and you could do what need to be done. It was also fun to drive the stuff because it was different having to know all the different variations you could run into. I worked for GMC Truck and Coach Division so I could drive anything from a three on the tree to a 20 speed Spicer trans on the same day. Even drove a few twin sticks early on.
One other odd one was when I worked at Greyhound Bus back in the 70’s. You needed a cherry picker to change an alternator on a MC5, MC7 or MC8. The alternators were huge, 4 V belts drove the alternator, they later switched to direct drive on the rear of the 8V-71’s. We had a lot of experience swapping alternators due to a little mis-diagnosis by the experts. The bearings were usually what failed on the alternators. The bearing were easy to grease. 2 zerks and you were done. Well standard operating procedure in the field was ” grease the bearings one more time, we’ll change it out after its next run”. Well the genius’s at the rebuild facility figured the alternators were failing due to over greasing. Solution was remove the zerks and now we really have a problem, the alternators are failing left and right, we are stealing alternators off units that are down for other repairs. The problem actually was the air operated belt tension system. The solution at that time was to remove the air cylinder and install a turnbuckle adjuster and set the belt tension with a gage. Ultimate solution was to use a similar setup like GMC used on its coach, direct drive oil cooled alternators. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
And a great one it is, and you must tell some more stories in some posts of your own one day, sir.
Never driven an F model but have driven its bonneted stable mate and mechanical brother the R model though the one I was sentenced to had a 12 speed sxtended shift in Mack speak yes it was noisy slow and uncomfortable but it was fun for the times I wouldnt want to drive one again for money I like smooth and quiet now and was treated most of the week in a FH16 Globetrotter last week 600hp all mod cons very nice and had a run in the 700hp one we have yes even weighing 58000,kg hills flatten out nicely but this week back in a Frightshaker Argosy with a Cummins rumbling beneath the cab lots of noise vibration and power but they have a godawfull cable operate gearshift, why the Swedes and Japs can make a linkage that out lasts a truck but Americans cant WTF
“..sentenced to..” Hehe!
Volvo has recently updated/refreshed their trucks, inside and outside. FH16 below.